The myth of the Crystal Moon
by J.C. Phillips
Summary: Teaser trailers from my nearly completed work.
1. Chapter 1

" _Luminous beings are we, not the crude material you see you are made of."_

-Master Yoda

Chapter 10

The crew of the Super Star Destroyer 'Imperious' stood in awe on the command deck.

Everyone from Admiral Qo to the communications officers and even few sentience-programmed droids crowded the cold steel railing along the thick, wide rectangular windows.

The Emperor was out for his daily walk.

The spectacle would not have been so unusual had he not been walking the length of the central landing strip on the outside of the ship without any form of pressure suit. The crew watched on in disbelief from up high in the Central Command Tower.

The Emperor had conditioned himself for years using the Dark powers to withstand the rigors of empty space. He felt it gave him an edge over other organic creatures and helped achieve what would he described to his apprentice, Darth Vader as a 'released' sense of body and mind.

Members of the crew muttered to each other under their breath as the Admiral shot them disapproving glances yet did not bother to yell at them to continue working just yet.

Truth told, the Admiral thought the old man in absolute power was absolutely crazy and would love nothing more than to see a meteor splatter him across the ship.

Chasing halfway across the galaxy after being appointed command of one of the most elite ships in the emperor's fleet only to load up on miniscule amounts of mining deposits and to siphon water off uncontaminated moons was not what the Admiral had in mind after sixteen years of grade school, ten years of college, seven years of officer training and four years of war school.

"No human can survive thirty minutes in space." He thought to himself, "It must be a trick of sorts."

The weightless cloak he wore flowed and ebbed black as ink as it expanded and distorted, from the tower above the splotch of black looked more like a disease, an inescapable infection creeping its way up to the tower. The twinkling shards of light from the stars in the background 'bent' disappearing into the black mass sending chills down the crew's spines as the splotch of darkness crept slowly forward.

His feet never touched the ship as he walked and yet he did not float away. The newer members of the crew were silent now in absolute disbelief. The black cloud retracted like a poisonous anemone closing itself up for the night, rising and falling and contracting as if the entire evil mass was a single being.

The Emperor approached the top of the runway and stopped.

A formation of three Tie-fighters were inbound on a direct path for the Emperor, Admiral Qo could have called them off but chose to turn his attention to his second in command and her view screen to review a list mundane Main Engine performance updates.

The crew gasped as the fighters deflected, one tumbled and spun off into space, the others smashed into pieces across the runway and into the front face of the Command Tower. The hooded figure continued towards the air-lock at the base unimpeded while turning its head and craning up at the windows. The spectators above were paralyzed with horror, ensnared by giant red eyes flash a seething glare.

The wraith turned and waved at the air-lock release lever, the control unit reacted opening the pressurized doors without contact from a clawed hand. The image in black slithered inside.

Admiral Qo went tense and stood up straighter still, his face went hard and cold. "Back to work!" He barked at his crew. "Unless you would rather be out there with him tomorrow!"

The crew scrambled to their stations as Admiral Qo stared at the air-lock for a moment longer and thought to himself, "This has to be the scariest place in the whole universe." Then returned to his own duties as well.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 24

Aboard the 'Victorious' Human Relations Protocol droid C-3PO waited patiently for Admiral Aakbar to make his rounds. The admiral had been off the bridge for an extended period of time which was unusual considering the gravity of the situation at hand.

When the Admiral finally made an appearance C-3PO gestured repeatedly for his attention and attempted to speak over the crowd of officers lining up to hand over updates collected during is absence.

The admiral took his time reading each one twice and questioning each officer extensively.

C-3PO unplugged himself from the his station and made way to the end of the line waiting for his turn to access the Master Strategist General, as was his official position recognized among the Joint Chiefs of the Rebel Alliance.

As the last officer was finished being grilled for information and dismissed back to his station C-3PO spoke up, "Admiral Aakbar, my pardons sir, I have a message…"

"Do you have an update on General Skywalker for me yet?!" The Admiral boomed over the droids voice as the crowd of soldiers quieted down enough to eavesdrop at the mention of the farm boy who defied an Emperor by smashing his crown jewel of death and destruction.

"No sir, but Quee…"

" I have an insurrection to run besides babysitting a hotshot pilot out dancing across the stars, when you have something of interest that may concern me give me a call." The Admiral turned to begin his rounds of the circuit of stations circling the command deck when he felt the robots hard gold fingers pull on his shoulder.

"Sir, I must insist…"

"Unhand me or I'll have you turned into fish hooks and paperweights and sent back home!"

The security guards rushed forward with their weapons drawn in an instant ready to put the droid down.

"Sir!" C-3PO threw his hands up in the air. "I have an important message…"

"Return to your station and resume your duties, this is your last warning 'clanker'!" The crew gasped collectively, stunned to hear the Admiral use a derogatory term even if it was directed at a machine.

C-3PO froze with his arms in the air above his head, his eyes faded to dark as the whirring gyros through out his body slowed to a halt.

Crackles of static energy faded as the droid's arms retracted and folded across his chest, his head and body slumped down into a squatting position and assumed the inactive storage and transport position.

"Just as well." The Admiral said waving off the guards. "This is no place for overheating droids or people for that matter, get a Special-Ops maintenance crew to remove this one and update a replacement with this ones information."

"That will take some time Sir, and the station will be down during the work." Said a young woman sporting a blonde crew cut and a clipboard who seamed to appear out of thin air.

"Good, see to it thank you."

Yes sir!" The soldier saluted while kicking her heels together and smiling then disappeared just as fast as she arrived.

The Admiral took one more look at the droid and shook his head puzzled as to whether he actually caused the shutdown or if it was just coincidence because the machine had been on an intense assignment for days.

It was a risk he didn't like but had to take for the safety of the pilot and this particular mission, the outcome could be pivotal to the survival of the Alliance.

The Alliance was dangerously low on resources and the benefactors on Palishii-E were becoming impatient for results promised from the Admiral to balance the terms of the next engagement.

The Alliance was tired from running and needed to fortify a hardened base to rest its troops while armies of droids scour the landscape gathering and refining water, plants, and minerals into everything from medicines to weapons and food.

The crew's mumbling quickly returned to talking, then yelling and shouting over each other in a 'get busy' show of action for the Admiral as he made his way through the crowd toward the first station brave enough to wave for his attention.

"Report." The Admiral said politely and bluntly.

"Sir I'm picking up a signal being received within the confines of the command deck." Said an elderly man with one arm and the same crew cut as the young woman at a small station in charge of data encryption.

"Spy communications?" Said the Admiral with sincere interest and suspicion.

"I don't think so sir, its authentic encrypted Rebel Alliance Top Priority code, only its not being sent to us."

"Who then?" The Admiral curiously demanded an answer.

"Admiral Aakbar!" The name was screamed with a pitch somewhere between a dragon breathing fire and steel scraping against steel with all the terror of shattering glass. The sound raked across the command deck straight to Admiral Aakbar's ears, wherever they were located, from somewhere behind so loud it caused the entire crew to freeze at once.

Snapping to full attention, the Admiral looked to the ceiling and slowly turned to face the voice he knew all too well.

"It is I, Queen Leia Organa, representative of the people of Palishii-E and chairman of the Joint Chiefs of the Rebel Alliance and I demand an update on the whereabouts of General Skywalker and the Astro-droid in his company!"

All crew members snapped to attention as well as a few droids.

"Your Majesty I was Just about to…"

"Don't patronize me, Admiral!" The voice came from C-3PO's mouth speaker and clearly the droid was under her control as it unbundled and returned to standing on two legs then walked forward with an awkward jerking motion absent the smoothing effect of his balancing gyros. The Admiral watched while a holographic projector mounted within the robots chest cast a grainy blue image of the Queen in a white cloak with the hood raised over her head obscuring her face from view.

"I am well aware you have lost communications with the General." C-3PO's eye sockets flashed and went black emphasizing each word. "I also had your word he would not be participating in yet another dangerous long range mission."

The Admiral knew that arguing with the Queen was futile yet had to try. "General Skywalker insisted he be a part of the mission…"

"I insisted he not!" She barked cutting him off rudely. "The only way he could have known about the mission was if you or I approached him!" The droids right index finger clicked and clacked as it pointed blamefully and waved back and forth directly at him in a condescending fashion following the queens holographic motions. "Last I was informed I am in command of your division and you are to follow my orders!"

The Admiral stood silent listening.

"I must to report to the Joint Chiefs soon admiral. They want this location if it pans out but we are more concerned with the General falling into the wrong hands, now explain yourself Admiral."

The Admiral knew the queen had her spies too, but to think that she was in the loop about events so recent only reminded him further that he was just another soldier in a very serious war.

"We have not received any report from General Skywalker as of this time, this protocol droid you are communicating through estimates the expedition may have encountered rough space terrain and may have slowed its pace as the area is not mapped for meteorites and so forth and our secret relay stations may be rerouting or holding back information until it is safe to broadcast." The Admiral hoped the Queen would buy his thin explanation as the crew stood frozen waiting for their commanders response.

After a long moment of tense silence the Queen spoke. "I shall give _your _report to the Joint Chiefs Admiral."

"Thank you your Maj…"

"Admiral, ready your fleet for a mission into the 'Dead Zone', you are going to find General Skywalker and return him to your ship where he will await transport to yet _another _secret location, which are becoming rare these days."

"Begging your pardon Majesty, but…"

"You have twenty four hours Admiral."

"There's no way we can be ready in such a short period without giving away our position again." The Admiral stood up to her the best he could.

"Twenty four hours admiral!, you have your orders, now salute and move out!"

"Yes your Majesty!" The Admiral stood tall and saluted along with the rest of the crew.

"And admiral, if anything 'unfortunate' should happen to this 'clanker' protocol droid you will be the one making fishhooks and selling paperweights back on Mon Calamari, do I make myself clear?!"

"Yes your Highness, crystal clear." The Admiral was complacent.

The cloaked figure raised her hands and pulled the hood back to reveal her face. Leia Organa was known for her beauty and bravery across the galaxy. Respected so much some fighter jockeys painted a large silhouette of her head on the nosecones of their attack vehicles just to enrage the Imperial Forces further.

What presented itself was a face wracked by worry and sorrow, for those who died at the hands of the Emperor and those who still would.

Her eyes held all within her gaze as she spoke, "Admiral, your crew is the finest in the entire Alliance and we know you and your comrades are dedicated beyond reproach, you are fighting for the lives of others and to be free yourselves. All beings who share this belief are behind you arm in arm, you and your crew have our unending gratitude. Thank you and may the Force be with you."

"May the force be with you!" The entire bridge crew responded proudly drowning out the Admiral.

The holographic image faded away as the queen pulled her hood back over her face releasing C-3PO to resume his functions and smooth his awkward motions.

The Admiral let out his breath and stared at C-3PO. The protocol droid jerked to life, "Oh dear!, I must have overloaded and tripped a safety breaker, perhaps I should go to maintenance." He said to himself as he looked at the Admiral unaware of the conversation he was part of.

"The message from the queen has been received, thank you, now return to your station and continue your work." The fish headed humanoid said with sliver of contempt in his deep voice.

"Very well sir." C-3PO said politely then turned and walked back to his station to continue his monitoring of the deep space mission while the crew stared at him, some almost in fear and others with a newfound respect for the power he wielded.

As the gold plated droid shuffled passed the stunned young officer with the crew cut and clipboard pressed to her chest he turned his head and said, "I wasn't aware of any message from the queen, and they say us droids don't know what were talking about most of the time."


End file.
